FireFall: Joyeux Noël
Merry Christmas! A reflection on the liminal; plus, enjoy this holiday "clip episode" special.
Ah, the 90s - when networks aired entire specials comprised of the “best of” clips from your favorite shows. Before streaming, if you missed an episode, you were out of the loop until re-run season - except you might catch missed moments at the holidays, when “clip episodes” were like a highlight reel of the season’s funniest moments.
Everyone has different holiday rhythms, and the cadence sometimes shifts through the years. Maybe you have a full day. Maybe you’re exhausted. Maybe you’re on a train, feeling a bit forlorn. Maybe you’re in snug proximity to loved ones. Maybe you’re miles away with more empty places than you’d hoped for.
If you stumble in from contentment or loneliness, numb exhaustion or travel time, quarantine or waiting room hours - however you arrive in this space, please know you’re wanted, and welcome, and we’ll scrape up an extra chair, whether you have three minutes or thirty or three hours.
One Christmas, I was moving from a small apartment into a shared house - but the house wasn’t quite ready for us all to move in. Most of my belongings were crammed in my old Buick, and for a week I stayed in the guest room off the large fellowship hall of a campus ministry - Christmastime, with all my Christmas things packed away, in limbo between one home and another. It was a hard time to feel so liminal. Like I was an ornament that showed up late when the tree was already full: where to put it?
When we are at home with Christ, and at home in our own skin, and at home in our voices, maybe it’s easier to endure those liminal stretches. Or, maybe not. Maybe they’re always rearranging our picture of being at home with Christ, at home with ourselves, at home with our vocation.
You are not superfluous. You’re not a leftover ornament or a seasonal afterthought. You bring what no one else can. Maybe the liminal space - being brought out of the safe storage box, not yet packed into a new one - maybe that is where you shine: glinting in the light on the mantel, or sparkling in a bowl on a table, or packed in tissue - the gift someone will delight in. What if you’re howling in discomfort, asking why God has let you linger outside the familiar old box - while this is the space your beauty best reflects the glow of Christmas lights?
Ornaments don’t try to reflect light. All they have to do is simply to be. Maybe you’re shining more than you know.
While You Were Preaching: Highlights from the First Eleven Weeks
Among other delightful resources, Vol. 1 included a podcast episode on “Equity in the Christian Workplace” that is fantastic. Listen to it and explore other resources here.
Vol. 2 includes a rich, fascinating video from Dr. Havilah Dharamraj, on “Reading Ruth from South Asia.” Also note the book Follow Her Lead by David Kendall.
In Vol. 3, you’ll find a great podcast episode with Dr. Yvette Blair-Lavallais on food and justice, as well as excerpts from historic lay preacher Sarah Cooke’s Wayside Sketches.
Vol. 4 features a variety of practical resources from the Evangelical Covenant Church, along with other highlights, including interdisciplinary fun via devotional reflections on the Psalms from astrophysicist Dr. Jennifer Wiseman.
Among other features, Vol. 5 celebrates Dr. Ahmi Lee’s encouragement for weary preachers, as well as a video on Wesleyan women from Rev. Dr. Jo Anne Lyon.
Vol. 6 includes a look at the Wynkoop Center for Women in Leadership, a fantastic “theologian” sweatshirt, and much more.
In Vol. 7, you’ll find the Online Museum of Women in Christianity; a sermon by Rev. Dra. JoAnne Solís-Walker; a practical resource for search committees, and more.
For some fascinating history on women evangelists in America, check out the interview with Dr. Priscilla Pope-Levison in Vol. 8, which also highlights the punk-flavored iconography of The Modern Saints.
Find out how to connect with regular prayer Zoom calls in Vol. 9, and delve into the vivid poetry of Ghanian oral theologian Afua Kuma.
In Vol. 10, watch a video on “friendships in every season,” and enjoy the “Know Your Mothers” artwork, among other resources.
Soak up the practical wisdom of Rev. Sherin Swift in Vol. 11, and meet Nenilava, Prophetess of Madagascar. For a lecture on prayer, justice, and social transformation through the life of Josephine Butler, watch this video of Dr. Sarah Williams.
In the eleven weeks since FireFall debuted, a generous volunteer has begun working on Fuego Descendió - FireFall in Spanish.
Other resourcing pages include the ones below:
In addition to the page of conferences, there’s a resource page of links to online databases and round-up’s of women speakers and scholars - see below.
Other writing from the past eleven weeks includes “How to Find Side Doors into Wonder When You’re Tired” and “When I First Learned Grown-Up’s Bully Kids of Women in Church Leadership.”
Merry Christmas, friends! I’m so thankful for this growing community dedicated to celebrating the voices, leadership, work, and research of women leading in the church and academy.
Thank you for your ministry, scholarship, and camaraderie.